Goodnight, good morning
by campfiresongs
Summary: We've all been there, you break up with someone and think its a great idea to go out and get drunk and be merry. For Will Vandom, however, this didn't work out so well. ONESHOT.


"Oh come on Irma, just one more!" Will Vandom was drunk. Not tipsy, not slightly merry, no; she was completely inebriated.

"No thanks Will, I have class in the morning and plus, I think you've had enough don't you?" Irma Lair however, for once, was being the responsible, sober one. She had spent all night being dragged from bar to bar by the intoxicated red head in search of liquor and men to overcome her , everyone had been through a break-up when they felt like getting drunk and being slutty would help, so Irma had felt duty bound to escort her and make sure she didn't get in too much trouble.

"Let's get you home, boozy." Irma said wearily, it was almost 4am and she had to be up in 3 hours for college. She tugged on Will's arm as she was waving and blowing kisses at some drunk freshmen eyeing her up from across the street.

"But I don't wanna go home!" whined Will petulantly, "Can't we stay out just a little longer, let's go talk to those guys, they look fun!" she lunged into the street but was immediately pulled back by the vice like grip of her best friend.

"No no no," uttered Irma, "we are going home." She tugged Will along behind her like a mother disciplining their child. Will groaning and trying to pull her arm free constantly until she became too tired to resist anymore and followed along in drunken, brooding silence.

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><p>It was finally over, almost 5 years in a relationship and it was over, just like that. One blazing row, followed by a lot of tears and it was done with. She supposed she should have felt relieved. Truly, her heart had not been in it for a very long time but although she did not love the boy much anymore she still cared about him too much to end it. Then she had missed his band's big break performance, then his mother's birthday and then finally, his birthday. She hadn't done this out of spite, she never meant to be a bad girlfriend but duty had called and as the leader of the guardians of the veil, she had always answered.<p>

And that was that. He had called her all kinds of awful, yet true, things. She had gone home and tried to cry, tried really, really hard to feel something. But all she could feel was relief and an overwhelming thirst for alcohol. And that is where Irma had stepped in. Taranee didn't drink as she felt it interfered with her required 9 hours sleep per night so that she could concentrate fully on all her studies and avoid feeling tired, Hay-Lin was working late at the Silver Dragon and Cornelia was still moping about her break up with Caleb, even though it had almost been 2 months now.

"Irma..." she mumbled, "I think I'm gunna be..."

"Ewww, Will! On my shoes, really? It's a shame I'm not all guardian-ed up or I could just wash it off."

Will sat down on the kerb, raising a shaky hand and wiping the back of it across her mouth before lowering her head into her lap with a groan. Now she felt like she could cry. She heard Irma tell her to stay where she was while she went to the McDonalds a couple of streets over for some napkins. There were a lot of students about and she had walked this route on her own many times so she didn't feel bad about leaving her friend.

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><p>Will groaned once more, wiping her moist hand onto the grass next to the sidewalk, at least she had avoided getting any sick on herself, that was a plus. She shook her head, look at yourself; she thought disgustedly, Matt's lucky to be without you.<p>

She could hear footsteps approaching nearby and looked up, her vision blurring and sending a wave of nausea over her again. Raising a hand swiftly to cover her eyes to allow them to focus she regained her composure and looked up, expecting to see someone from her class or maybe someone from high school, she was sure to bump into someone in her state.

"Will?" the figure asked; she looked up into the face of the man now standing over her. "Why are sat on the floor?" he asked. Will groaned again, recognising the man, quite possibly the last, or maybe second last after today, person she wanted to see.

"Hey buddy!" a shout rang out down the street, "You wanna back off and try it on with someone who can say no!" Irma came sprinting towards the pair, not an easy feat in heels but sighed when she reached them. "Oh, hey Caleb. Sorry, I thought you were some lechery perve. My bad. Have you been working late tonight?" She panted, regaining her breath and threw a pile of napkins into Will's lap. "Clean yourself up, Vandom."

Caleb frowned, "Yeah, I'm just on my way home. What are you two doing? And why have you got...actually, what is that on your shoes?"

Irma smirked, "Ask Will." She said sardonically. Caleb opened his mouth to ask but Will simply uttered,

"Matt broke up with me" before returning to cleaning her face with the napkins.

Caleb stayed silent, not really knowing what to say or how to express how he was feeling. Was he sorry? No, he couldn't say he was. He was sorry to see Will like this and sorry that it had affected her so badly but he was not sorry that she was no longer with the dark haired guitar player that seemed to make her feel guilty at every available opportunity. Also in some terrible part of him that he'd rather not acknowledge he was pleased that she was now free of him, pleased he would never experience that burning sensation in the pit of his stomach whenever he saw them together, pleased he would never break something out of frustration after having to listen to her wax eloquently about how wonderful he was.

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><p>"Alright Vandom," said Irma as she made her way to Will, offering her a hand, "Upsie daisy." She hauled Will to her feet and stepped closer to offer a steadying hand as she swayed nervously on her feet. "We really need to get you home," she looped Will's arm over her shoulder, turning to Caleb she smiled, "Good seeing you Caleb, see you later!" Caleb frowned and stepped towards them, "I'll take her home, Irma. You live the other side of town, right?" Irma nodded, struggling already even with the slim weight of Will, "I'll take her." He said again and removed Will's arm, placing it around his neck before lifting her up with his arms under her legs and shoulders. She allowed her head to rest against his chest and was almost immediately asleep. Irma smiled gratefully, "You are an absolutely life saver" she said as she started to walk away, "Text me off Will's phone to let me know she gets home ok." She yelled as she hailed a passing cab.<p>

Caleb watched Irma drive away in the cab and hefted Will further up before setting off in the direction of her apartment. She was still asleep on his chest; he could feel the warmth of her breath through his t-shirt and the soft grip of her hand on the back of his neck. Looking down at her he smiled slightly, he felt like he was in one the movies Cornelia used to make him watch, where the guy always shows up at the right time to rescue the girl. It had never been the right time for him and Will, maybe now after everything they'd been through it would be. He knew deep down that Will would never do that to Cornelia, they barely saw each other nowadays but he knew that they still considered each other best friends and there was some unspoken code of honour between women that they would never do that. It was probably wishful thinking on his part anyway, he thought, she'd never shown any interest in him, why should she now?

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><p>He continued walking with the sleeping Will cuddled into him, the streets were largely empty now, all the students had gone home and it was starting to get light. As the sky began to turn to grey Caleb turned onto Will's street. She lived in an apartment block now, with some other students. He'd been there a couple of times with Cornelia for various parties so he remembered where it was. What he hadn't remembered was that he had no way of getting in, one: with Will in his arms and two: when Will probably had the keys.<p>

He spied a bag that she had managed to keep in her lap during their walk and manoeuvred his arms so that he was supporting her with his left arm, his hand in places he'd rather not think about, while he opened her bag and fished out a pair of keys with his right. Will stirred slightly and he made a shhh noise, hoping she wouldn't wake up and be sick on him. He managed to slot the correct key into the door on his first try and nudged it open with his foot. He stumbled blindly through the dark hallway, desperately trying to recall a floor plan in his head. As far as he could remember Will's room was the third on the left. He counted the faint outline of doorways until he reached it, mercifully it had been left open and he pushed it open with his back, stepping through backwards and flicking on the light switch with his nose.

He smiled at the disaster that was Will's room. She had clearly left in a hurry and clothes were strewn over every surface visible. He gently placed her on her bed, clearing the mess around her. As he put her down she stirred, her eyes opening groggily. "Caleb?" she asked, bewildered and taking in her surroundings. "Did you bring me home?" she ran a hand through her hair and sat herself up, supporting her shaky body with her propped up arms. "Oh my God I feel terrible." She sputtered, her mouth was dry and tasted disgusting, she threw a cursory glance around her room, she had left clothes and underwear everywhere. She dreaded to know what Caleb was thinking of her right now.

"I'll go get you some water." He said simply, leaving the room with a faint smile. He returned quickly, handing her the glass before sitting himself next to her on her bed, as there did not appear to be any other space to sit in.

"I am so sorry-" she began, not even knowing how to apologise for, or even explain the state she was in. Caleb interrupted her, "Don't apologise. Its fine, I'm just glad I was there to help Irma get you home. I think she would have given herself a hernia trying to carry you all the way here." He chuckled lightly.

"Are you calling me fat!" she questioned playfully, the water had made her feel more alert and a bit better, she raised her eyebrows teasingly before breaking into a smile. "Seriously though," she began hesitantly, "thank you for bringing me home, I really appreciate it. You're a real gentleman, Caleb." She wrapped her arms around him and hugged him lightly.

Pulling away a pinkish blush spread across her cheeks, she cleared her throat awkwardly and looked down at her feet. "I um..." she coughed again, "I'm gunna go get ready for bed and uh...clean my teeth." She rooted through the piles of clothes around her floor before identifying her pyjamas and slipping into her small en-suite bathroom. She scrubbed her teeth frantically, trying to get the taste of alcohol off her breath. She was never drinking again, she was absolutely certain that it brought out the worst in her. However, for most of the night she had not thought about Matt and hadn't felt like a bad person for having a good time and for that, she was quite grateful.

She shyly emerged from the bathroom in a large t-shirt with a cartoon frog emblazoned across the front of it and a pair of tiny shorts. Tucking a piece of her unruly red hair behind her ear she smiled at Caleb, not knowing what else to say.

He saved them both by standing, "I hope you don't mind I used your phone to let Irma know you got in OK, she asked me to." There was an awkward silence "I'll probably get going then." He said, quietly. Will's heart sank a little as she realised that she didn't want him to go; she felt terrible that he had carried her home and now she was kicking him out in the middle of the night, well it was hardly the middle of the night. Light was starting to appear through her curtains and soon enough the sun would be up.

"Don't go." She sputtered suddenly. She immediately regretted it and nervously tried to backtrack, "What I mean is...you could stay. It's really late, I mean early and well...uh...we have a sofa that's pretty comfy and you wouldn't have to go back to yours until you liked and...uh..." She was stopped by Caleb taking two strides across the room towards her and taking her face in his hands. He kissed her, at first it was short and sweet; a simple coming together of their lips. He had started to pull away but thought better of it; this might be the only chance he got and he leaned in again this time kissing her softly, letting his lips move slowly and a jolt went through his body when he felt her kissing him back, wrapping her small arms around his neck and moving them up into his hair.

He felt her pull back sharply, opening his eyes she was stood there, looking like a rabbit in headlights. Slowly she raised a hand to her lips, as to look for some proof of what had just happened. She still had most of her makeup on from the night out, her eyes were slightly smudged and most of her lipstick had now come off but she looked beautiful, Caleb thought, and completely perfect. He also thought, that if she threw him out now, told him she never wanted to see him again, it had been worth it. For she had kissed him back, she could not deny it and he relished in that knowledge as he prepared himself for whatever, if anything, she would say.

"I..." she stuttered, "I never knew you felt that way." Well, he hadn't been expecting that. He couldn't find any words to say so he just shrugged, feeling that that would serve as an acceptable response. "I...I just broke up with Matt, Caleb. I really don't think I can..."

"I'm sorry." He offered. He could feel it coming; she was going to ask him to leave. He could see it in her face, he thought he'd save her the trouble, he owed her that. "I'll just go; we can forget this ever happened. I'm sorry" He said quietly, heading towards the door.

Will stepped in front of him, "I meant what I said Caleb," she said, confusing him slightly. "I don't want you to go. And..." she chewed her lip nervously, "Please don't apologise." She opened her arms, inviting him for a hug. He stepped forwards, wrapping his arms around her small frame and resting his chin atop her head. He'd been stupid to think he wouldn't care if she said she never wanted to see him again, she was everything to him and just to be some small part of her world was astounding. "Please," came her small voice, muffled against his chest, "stay with me tonight. I really don't want to be on my own." Caleb gently kissed the top of her head and breathed in the smell of her hair, the sweet, fruity smell of her shampoo still strong through the scent of hairspray and the general smell of alcohol. "Of course." He replied.

He lifted her again, grinning at her childish squeal as he dropped her playfully onto the bed. He reached over to turn off the light as she scrambled under the covers. Kicking off his boots he pulled the sheets over both of them. He raised his arm so that she could rest on his chest and he placed his hand lightly on her shoulder, playing with her hair. Twisting herself slightly she turned to face him, placing a small, quick kiss on his lips before pulling away and returning to her position.

"Goodnight, Caleb." She sighed.

"Good morning, Will."

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><p>Just a quick one shot I did while taking a small break from uni at home.<p>

Hoping you are all well

xxxxx


End file.
